Pneumatic-cushion wheel.



. PATENTED JAN.16,1906. 1 C. A. LEE.

PNEUMATIC CUSHION WHEEL.

. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28, 1905.

k \ww liijl cr mains LEEOFKANSAS cirr.irANsAsAssienYmor etaenme siren srarns Wil yJrJe ALBERT J. HOLZMARK, 0F l'IANSAS (II'IY, KANSAS.

ehe'erear-io otiss-aoeiWHE L} Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16,1908.

Application filed Jime 28,1905- seminal zeve l Tamil-whom it fltaay'cene'crn: y I

Be it known that I, Grahams A. LEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Vt yandottc and State oi Kansas, have invei-ited' certain new an d. useful improvements 1n. Pneumat1c-Cush1on Spring- Wheels, of which the follow ng 18.8.

specification.

My invention'relates to pneumaticecushion' wheels forautomobiles and other vehicles,

' and more especially to that type consisting of rigid central. and outer. portions with a pneumatic cushion between them to permit the said portions to playvertically and assume eccentric relations-witl'i respect to each other in order to cushion the shocker jar'incident to travel over rough or uneven surfaces, and thereby conduce' to the comfort.

*of the occupants andreduce the Wear and.

.tear on the machinery of the vehicle, my 'ob-.

ject being to produce a Wheel of this character having a steel or solid cushion tire and possessing the desirable features of strength,

durability,-and cheapness and the resiliency of a wheel equipped with a pneumatic tire.

To this end the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construc-' tion and organization, as hereinafter described and claimed, and in order. that it maybe fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of apart oi a wheel embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line II II of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is section taken on'the line III HI of Fig. 2. of Fig. Fig. 5 is a section of the character shown. by Fig. 2, but of a modified construction.

In the said drawings the inner portion of oi the wheel comprises the hub portion 1, the

radiating spokes and the ring 3, encircling sald spokes and having its periphery grooved,

'as at 4, the groove 4 cl. Fig. 2 being or greater depth than that shop '1. in Fig. 5 and of slightly di'li eren t cross-sectional form.

By preference all or a plurality or the spokes of this inner portion aretubular and internally threaded at their outer ends, as at 5, and the encircling ring is provided with apertures 6, registering with said threaded passages 5.

The outer portion of the wheel comprises the metallic outer ring 7, the inner ring 8,

Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV IV' radiating, preferably tubular, spokes 9, connectingsaid rings and arranged alter nately with respect to-the. spokesil of the inner' portion of the wheel.

The outer ring 7 may form'the tire, of thewheel or it may be".

eXtern grooved and equipped with a rubber orequival'ent-tire' 10, so that the wheel shall run as noiselessly as possible. In radial alinement with spokes 2 the innerringS is- .provided with slots 11, and the inner side'of said ring is. grooved, as at 1-2, the groove 12 of the ring shown inFig. 2 being of greater depth than'the similar groove of Fig. 5

of'diiierent cross-sectional iorm..

' 13 indicates rods extending through the alined apertures (rand slots'll and having their inner endsthreaded and engaging the. threaded passages5f of'spokes' 2. 1 The outer ends of rods 13 are'provide'd 'with f threaded passages 1.4m engagementby the cap-screws 15, cushions-16 of any suitabletype, but ,pref= erably of the spring coil type shown, being" mounted on the rods and interposed between the cap-screws and-the outer side of ring 8 '17 indicates a circular pneumatic'cushion fitting snugly between and seated in, the

grooves 4 and 12, respectively, Ofrin 'sS and 8, the vcushionin the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 being provided withan inner reinforcement or rib 18, engaging'grobve 4, and an outer ribor reinforcement-19, engagl-- ing groove 12. In'radi'al .alineinent with the apertures 6 and slots .11 the cushion is pro-- vided-with tubular cross-pieces 20, the pas v they are of approximately the same form as slots 1 1., The pneumatic cushion will be provided with the usualvalve-stem, as at 2-1, extending, by preference, inwardly through the, inner ring 3 in order that the cushion may be inflated to the desired degreewhenevernecessary or d csi rable.

In hen oi the construction described aconstruction may be employed which in principle is the same, or the two constructions may be made cooperative. In such reverse construction the inner ends of all or a number of the spokes 9 will be threaded internally, as at 22. 23 indicates rods which are of precisely the same construction as rods 13 and may be duplicates of said rods reversed, so that their threaded ends shall be disposed outwardly and engage threaded passages 22. In this case the rods 23 extend through apertures 24 in rin 8, corresponding to apertures 6 in ring 3, an through slots 25 in ring 3, correspond ing to slots 11 in ring 8, the inner ends of the rods 23 being of the same construction as and equip ed with cap-screws and springs correspon ing to cap-screws and springs 15 and 16 of rods l3.

In the reverse construction under consideration the )neumatie cushion'would be provided wit tubular cross-pieces 26 of precisely the same construction and form as tnnoticed that the springs 16 are dispensed with and the cap screws engage the contigu us ring. This construction is operative, but is not the preferred construction, because in the 7 vertical play of.the inner portion of the wheel when in practical use, and the conse uent movement of the cushion there won (1 be more or less noise occasioned by the contact of the cap-screw with the contiguous ring.

. The cushions will compensate for this play,

so as to maintain a tensile strain on the rods at all times, and thereby guard against rattling occasioned by the repeated lmpacts of metal against metal.

In the practical operation of the wheel the weight of the vehicle de resses the axis of the inner portion ofthe wheel vertically below the axis of the outer portion, the lower portion of the pneumatic cushion flattening somewhat, because of the imposition of the weight thereon. In this action the cushion will consequently move with'the inner portion of the Wheel to some extent with respect to the outer portion, and therefore must have a sliding relationwith the rods, and to accommodate this movement of the cushion without im osing undue friction thereon, which might eat it sufficiently to injurious'ly affect it, the passages of the contiguous bridgepieces are of t e peculiar form explained, the

passages-fitting snugly against the rods at their inner and outer sides, so as to cooperate with the rods inguarding against independent lateral movement of the outer portion of the wheel, and in this connection it will be noticed that instead of having the sides of the brid e-pieces fitting flatly against the rods for their entire lengththey may be concaved, as shown in Fi 5, in order that the compression of said tu ular portions incident to the flattening of the tire may cause said contiguous portions to bow outwardly, as indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 5. By this construction of the tubular bridge-pieces their central portions, even at the inner and outer sides of the rods, will have but little frictional bearin g thereon, and thus reduce the tendency to become heated through friction in a material degree.

A wheel of the character described will have practically the same resiliency, as hereinbefore stated, as an ordinary pneumatictired wheel, but will be far more durable, and its first cost will be but little more than the ordinary wheel,for the reason that the pneumatic cushion can be made much lighter than the ordinary pneumatic tire, because its location eliminates practically all danger of punc-,

ture. Furthermore, as it does not'come into direct contact with rocks and other small obects its compression is not spasmodicthat is, its area of contact is large and its eompression more uniformly distributed.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a wheel possessing the features of advantage enumerated as desirable and which obviously may be modified in minor particulars without departing from the principle of construction involved.

Having thusdeseribed the invention, what I claim as new, and desire'to secure by Let ters Patent, is-

1. A wheel comprising a rigid inner portion having an encircling rin a rigid outer portion having an inner circu ar ring and an outer encircling ring, a circular pneumatic cushion between the ring of the inner portion and the inner ring of the outer portion, and radial rods extending through the pneumatic cushion and the rings in contact therewith and clamping the latter tightly upon the former.

2. A wheel, comprising a rigidinner portion having an encircling rin a rigid outer portion having an inner circu ar ring and an outer encircling ring, a circular pneumatic cushion between the ring of the inner portion and the inner ring of the outer portion, and radial rods extending through the pneumatic cushion and through the rings in .contact therewith and secured rigidly to one of the portions of the wheel and provided Withcapscrews at their opposite ends.

3. A wheel, comprising a rigid inner por tion having an encircling rin a rigid outer portion having an inner circu ar ring and an outer encircling ring, a circular pneumatic cushion between the ring of the inner portion and the inner ring of the outer portion, radial rods extending through the pneumatic cushion and through the rings in contact therewith and secured rigidly to one of the portions of the wheel and provided with capscrews at their opposite ends, and cushions mounted on said rods and interposed between the capscrews and the contiguous ring.

4. A wheel, comprising a rigid inner portion having an encircling ring, a rigid outer portion having an inner circular ring and an outer encircling ring, a circular pneumatic cushion between the ring of the inner portion and the inner ring of the outer portion and provided with radial tubular cross-pieces, and radial rods extending through the tubular cross-pieces and the rings in contact with the pneun'iatic cushion.

A' wheel, comprising a rigid inner portion having an encircling ring provided with apertures, a rigid outer portion having an outer and an inner ring, the latter provided with slots in radial alinement with said apertures, a circular pneumatic cushion fitting between the ring of the inner portion and the inner ring of the'outer portion and provided with radial tubular cross-pieces registering with said radially-alined apertures and slots, rods extending through the said tubular cross pieces and the registering apertures and slots and secured rigidly at their inner ends to the inner portion of the wheel, capscrews engaging the outer ends of said rods,

and cushions upon the rods and interposed between said cap-screws and the inner ring of the outer portion of the wheel.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES A. LEE. Witnesses:

H. (J. Ronenns, G. Y. 'lnoRPE. 

